MEXICO CITY - The U.S. government has dispatched a career Navy SEAL and anti-terrorism expert to the U.S. embassy in Mexico City to serve as liaison with Mexican troops waging war on gangsters.

Rear Adm. Colin Kilrain, a former senior commander of the U.S. Navy's special forces who last year worked on anti-terrorism for the National Security Council, recently took up the post of military attaché. He arrives amid a rising debate over the role and effectiveness of Mexico's military in President Felipe Calderon's anti-gangster campaign.

"It is an interesting choice," U.S. political scientist Roderic Camp, who has specialized in Mexico's military, said of Kilrain's appointment. "From the U.S. point of view, it is placing someone there who has special skills and experiences complementary to battling the cartels."

[SNIP]

Generals or admirals traditionally have been assigned as embassy attachés only in Russia and China, Kirkland said. For that reason alone, Kilrain's posting to Mexico "is significant," he said.

Kilrain will serve in Mexico under Ambassador Anthony Wayne, who arrived here last summer after a stint as second-in-command of the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan.

"It's a development that is part and parcel of the larger concern and focus on Mexico by the United States," said Kirkland, who teaches military science at the University of Southern California.

How often have you seen a newspaper article mention the name of a military attaché appointee? Never or almost never. Under the best of circumstances such a posting is sensitive. If threats come against the Admiral's family, almost certain to happen, this reporter and whoever in the DOD or State Department gave him the story should be taken for long one way rides into the country or out to sea. Pour encourager les autres.

I was first assigned to the U. S. Military Attache’s Office in Mexico City in 1991. The “DATT” was an Army brigadier general. Halfway through my tour, the slot was downgraded to O-6 and a Navy captain took over.

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